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Small pelagic fish supply abundant and affordable micronutrients to low- and middle-income countries

Nature Food volume 3, pages 1075–1084 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Wild-caught fish provide an irreplaceable source of essential nutrients in food-insecure places. Fishers catch thousands of species, yet the diversity of aquatic foods is often categorized homogeneously as ‘fish’, obscuring an understanding of which species supply affordable, nutritious and abundant food. Here, we use catch, economic and nutrient data on 2,348 species to identify the most affordable and nutritious fish in 39 low- and middle-income countries. We find that a 100 g portion of fish cost between 10 and 30% of the cheapest daily diet, with small pelagic fish (herring, sardine, anchovy) being the cheapest nutritious fish in 72% of countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, where nutrient deficiencies are rising, <20% of small pelagic catch would meet recommended dietary fish intakes for all children (6 months to 4 years old) living near to water bodies. Nutrition-sensitive policies that ensure local supplies and promote consumption of wild-caught fish could help address nutrient deficiencies in vulnerable populations.

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Fig. 1: Affordability of a 100 g portion of fish (cost relative to a low-cost diet of caloric adequacy from starchy staples).
Fig. 2: Nutrient density of fish caught in 39 low- and middle-income countries.
Fig. 3: Catch and identity of least-cost nutritious fish.
Fig. 4: Potential food supply from small pelagic fish.

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Data availability

Modelled catch, price and nutrient data are available at https://github.com/jpwrobinson/small-pelagic-fish. Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

The analysis was performed using R v.4.2.0 and the code is available at https://github.com/jpwrobinson/small-pelagic-fish.

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Acknowledgements

This study is a product of the Illuminating Hidden Harvests (IHH) initiative. We thank the IHH team for fisheries data collation, particularly in-country data providers. This work was supported by funding from the Minderoo and Oak Foundations. Engagement by D.J.M., K.B., P.J.C. and F.S. was additionally funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems led by WorldFish and supported by contributors of the CGIAR Trust Fund. We thank M. Roscher for his substantial efforts in collating, cleaning and curating the nutrition composition data. J.P.W.R. and E.M. were supported by Early Career Fellowships from the Leverhulme Trust; K.J.F. acknowledges support from the Cornell Center for Social Sciences and U.S. National Science Foundation (Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences no. 2009658); N.A.J.G. was supported by the Royal Society (grant nos. GH160077 and URF\R\201029) and a Philip Leverhulme Prize from the Leverhulme Trust; M.A.M. was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Research Chairs Program and the Ocean Frontier Institute; and C.C.H. was supported by the European Research Council (grant no. 759457).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    James P. W. Robinson, Nicholas A. J. Graham, Eva Maire, Emmanuel K. Mbaru, Johnstone O. Omukoto & Christina C. Hicks

  2. WorldFish, Jalan Batu Maung, Batu Maung, Bayan Lepas, Malaysia

    David J. Mills, Kendra Byrd, Philippa J. Cohen & Fiona Simmance

  3. Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

    David J. Mills

  4. Ghana Fisheries Recovery Activity, Tetra Tech ARD, Accra, Ghana

    Godfred Ameyaw Asiedu

  5. Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham, UK

    Kendra Byrd

  6. Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Maria del Mar Mancha Cisneros

  7. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Maria del Mar Mancha Cisneros

  8. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Philippa J. Cohen

  9. Department of Public & Ecosystem Health, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Kathryn J. Fiorella

  10. Ocean Frontier Institute, Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    M. Aaron MacNeil

  11. Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Mombasa, Kenya

    Emmanuel K. Mbaru & Johnstone O. Omukoto

  12. Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy

    Gianluigi Nico

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Contributions

J.P.W.R., D.J.M., N.A.J.G. and C.C.H. conceptualized and designed the study. D.J.M., G.A.A., K.B., M.M.M.C., P.J.C., G.N. and F.S. were involved in data collection. J.P.W.R. conducted the analyses and drafted the manuscript. All authors interpreted the data, contributed to manuscript writing and approved its submission.

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Correspondence to James P. W. Robinson.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 The affordability of a 100 g portion of fish by species’ body size (length at maturity, cm).

Line is the median posterior predicted value, shaded with 95% certainty intervals.

Extended Data Fig. 2 The cost of a 100 g portion of fish in USD.

Points are the median posterior predicted USD price of fish in each country.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Identity of the least-cost nutritious fish group in each country, showing the mean annual catch (a) and proportion of total annual catch (b).

Bars are coloured by fish ISSCAAP group.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Species in each country’s least-cost nutritious fish groups in each country.

Bars are the mean annual catch, coloured by fish ISSCAAP group.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Identity of the most-cost nutritious fish group in each country, showing the mean annual catch (a) and proportion of total annual catch (b).

Bars are coloured by fish ISSCAAP group.

Extended Data Fig. 6 Nutrient intakes and seafood consumption in sub-Saharan Africa.

(a) Estimated prevalence of inadequate intakes of calcium, iron and zinc, for total population in each country by Beal et al. 2017 (ref. 24). (b) Daily seafood consumption in children 2–5 years old, estimated by Global Dietary Database (ref. 26). Dashed lines indicate average values across all 18 countries. Data for Democratic Republic of Congo were unavailable.

Extended Data Fig. 7 Nutrient adequacy and the number of dietary targets (over 10% recommended intake per nutrient) contained in one portion.

Data are species groups per country in the 39-country dataset, with boxplots showing median and 25th and 75th quantiles (± 1.5*interquantile range).

Supplementary information

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Modelled estimates of fish cost by country and species group

Source Data Fig. 2

Nutrient content of species groups

Source Data Fig. 3

Least-cost nutritious species groups in each country

Source Data Fig. 4

Maps of nutrient intake and small pelagic nutrient supply

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Robinson, J.P.W., Mills, D.J., Asiedu, G.A. et al. Small pelagic fish supply abundant and affordable micronutrients to low- and middle-income countries. Nat Food 3, 1075–1084 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00643-3

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